almostthere002

I have a SW dealer in my area that is really good/knowledgeable but not cheap at all. I find the same products cheaper at other stores. However, I am quickly finding that saving a few bucks really ends up costing you much more later. Anyway, they sell cured live rock there for $7.49/lb. It is fiji rock. I have made the decision to buy live rock instead of the rock structure I have in my aquarium. I know I can find it cheaper online but I don't get to hand pick my rocks and I am unsure of the quality. I dont have any fish but my tank is cycling nicely right now. I had a fish and I have 1 lb of LR now. I want one big rock for the center and then I will add more. I do eventually want to add coral. I do have a few other questions besides price.

1. Will adding cured rock hurt my cycle now?
2. My fake rock is great for the fish. What happens if I keep it? I read somewhere it will eventually become alive. but does this mean it will grow the coraline algae and support corals? I think it is ceramic because a corner was broken on a different structure and it looked that way.

Thanks for your help.

soldieroffortune1974

1)whether it's "cured rock" or not when you put it in your aquarium,it will begin the cure process again as it adjusts to the new parameters.You'll still get some "die-off" even from so-called cured rock.

2)Any material whether it's fake rock, sand, dead crushed coral,etc will eventually become "alive" as bacteria and organisms settle on/into it and will support algae,corals,etc. It really depends on how porous the object.

7.49/lb for Fiji rock is a very good deal,around here it costs 9.55 to 10.80/lb I need some of that.

almostthere002

Thanks for the info. I actually ordered it online from Petco....hopefully that was a good choice but I had to stay were my budget allowed. It was pre-cured and was $110.00 for 44 lbs of what they sold it as premium fiji rock. You should check it out if you need some. Shipping was $47.50 (for Sat delivery) but they forgot to charge me for shipping...I am not complaining about that part at all .

I thought what came to me was nice. I got two huge pieces and a lot of mid pieces. i didn't get a lot of rubble at all. It shipped in newspaper though so there was some die off. But it's been in my tank for 5 days now and I already see purple and pink algae and also saw small red growth (red algae? maybe...to small to tell right now). No hitchhikers yet except one peanut worm but he died .

I kept my big grey rock in there too. I need to get pics added to my album still.

I am showing that the cycling is over acording to the tests but I am not sure that it is since I just added the rock so I am going to wait a little longer for more growth and time to see what happens.

au01st

Look up Marco Rocks or Eco Rocks (may be spelled Rox?). Stuff runs around $2/lb shipped and comes in very large porus pieces, very little rubble. I cut a few corners when ordering my rock, and got very dense base rock from eBay, which I'm now regretting. It came from Puerto Rico on a beach where I vacationed with my family, so that kinda sold me on it, that I could say I've been to the beach where this came from (dead rock from the shore, not the ocean). I'm setting up a 90 to transfer stuff from my 75, and I'm planning to order 100lbs of Marco Rocks, which will allow me to cherry pick the pieces I want from my current rocks as well as the new ones, and the excess rock will just go in the sump and/or refugium.

almostthere002

Thanks for the tip....I will look them up. I was bummed I couldn't cherry pick my rocks but they were just too much for me at the pet store. Regrets are expensive in fish keeping. I am learning that with my protein skimmer. Too bad about the rocks on ebay...that would be cool to say that those are the rocks from a beach you have been to. What will you do with the 75 gal?